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Laura Heaps

Managing Associate, Construction and Engineering
Manchester, UK

Expertise

Laura is a Managing Associate in the Construction, Engineering and Environmental Group working in both contentious and non-contentious construction and engineering work.

Laura acts for clients at all parts of the construction chain and is experienced in advising on and drafting standard/bespoke building contracts and associated documents including development agreements, agreements for lease, funding agreements and security documents, pre-construction agreements and professional appointments.

Laura has acted in a number of construction disputes, both for claimant and defendant clients, and has experience of all types of dispute resolution procedures including litigation, arbitration, mediation, expert determination and adjudication.

Experience

Examples of Laura's experience are as follows:-

Acting under a general instruction for a large national property developer in relation to disputes arising out of the construction of a hotel. Such disputes have arisen under the Development Agreement and associated JCT Building Contract, and have involved issues such as extensions of time and associated loss and expense, additional costs of financing the works, valuations of the measured works, and alleged construction defects.
Acted for a state-owned water company in a dispute with a contractor under an IChemE contract, involving defects in the construction of a desalination plant to achieve settlement of the dispute.
Acted for a specialist glazing and façade subcontractor in an adjudication under a bespoke contract relating to complex issues of extensions of time and associated loss and expense. Advising on final account position and settlement in relation to both construction defects and the final account. Providing ongoing advice on the final account position with a view to recover further sums due.
Acting for a property developer on mixed use schemes which includes the construction of commercial and residential units on several sites in England and Scotland. Drafting suites of contracts including appointments, JCT building contracts and other ancillary documents.
Acting for a property developer in relation to the construction, fit out and letting of a large development in Leeds using a JCT suite of documents, comprising of a number of different tower blocks containing commercial units.

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